Chords for Lee Roy Parnell, 2011 Texas Heritage Songwriters' Association Hall of Fame Inductee

All it takes is [F] a tender moment
[C] A loving word [G] or the touch of your [C] hand
What she needs is [F] a tender [E] moment
I grew up in a ranching community
and _ _ all the music that was handed down
was handed down _ from not so much phonograph records and stuff.
All those ranchers out there in the part of the country that I lived in
played guitar or fiddle.
And we had the school hill, which was the old school house
where all the ranching kids went to school years ago.
We kept it up and then once a month we had the school hill musical.
Sometimes it would be a Friday or sometimes it would be a Saturday
but it would be once a month.
And everybody [G] came, everybody played something. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Well, the first time I tasted that
[D] was when I put my band together
and we started playing after the junior high football games.
We caught them as they were coming out.
The rec hall was right by the football [E] stadium.
And so we [G] didn't even have a name for the band.
They just said, that's Leroy and them.
Let's go over there and listen to the play.
It's 50 cents.
My mother had a Roy Tan cigar _ _ _ box
and she popped the 50 cents [Em] in there.
There was three of [E] us.
We all walked away with [Em] 100 bucks a piece.
7th [D] grade.
That was the last time I ever made any real money in this business.
[Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
I never thought [C] of doing anything [Dbm] else.
_ _ Ever.
[Eb] [Dbm] I don't ever remember a time when I thought
I'm going to be a lawyer, I'm going to be a _ _ _ [Ab] rancher,
I'm going to [Bb] be_
it was just music.
It always was.
_ [Ab] Give me love [Cm] _ _ without [Ebm] mercy.
[Ab] _ _ [Gb] _ [Db] Hurt on [Ab] a wall and [Eb] go.
[Ab] Give me love [Cm] _ _
without [Ebm] mercy.
_ [Ab] _ [Db] Am [Ab] I complaining?
_ [Eb] Mercy [Ab] no.
Mercy no.
_ _ _ _ _ [Db] _
_ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ [Db] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
I knew I [Bbm] couldn't go, I [Ebm] couldn't sing other people's [Bb] songs
for the rest of my life.
_ So I began to write early, early age.
Early age, maybe 13, 14. _
Something like that.
Usually heartbroken, lovesick, you [C] know.
I always had plenty to write [E] about.
_ [B] _ _
[Gb] Thank you, [E] I'm home now.
_ [Ebm] One [E] thing that I do try to do is set aside [B] time
[Gb] every day [E] to get in a [B] place that's quiet,
[E] where I [Db] don't have distractions.
I don't, [E] you know, I think there's a [Db] misconception about
boy, you must get a lot of inspiration [E] being here by [B] the [Gb] river.
_ And all it does [B] is, all it does is I start thinking about fishing.
[E] _ _ Say [A] _ _ _ _ _ for instance you and I are writing a song together.
Well, _ you know, we're close and I don't want to embarrass myself in front of you.
So I'm not going to maybe throw something out that I've done.
I think, oh, that's dumb.
Well, guess what?
[C] Everything's dumb.
I [A] mean, you've [Am] got to just, you've got to get naked.
[E] You've just got to get down to it and you've just got to be fearless
and be willing to put it all out there.
It's not my job to judge whether or not it's any good.
It's only my job to do it.
[G] The night I met Leroy, I was with my wife and we were at a Delbert show
in Nashville at the XMN.
And Leroy and I started talking and my wife Barbara said,
[A] you know, I've got to get home early.
You can obviously get a ride home with this guy. _
[G] So we've been fast friends ever since. _ _
[C] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ Be honest.
[Cm] _ [G] Be fearless.
_ _ [C] Say it all.
Say it.
[E] Get it out there.
There's no such thing as a dumb [E] idea.
_ I mean, the only thing that's dumb is if you don't say it,
_ if you don't take a chance on it.
_ Nobody ever did anything great by playing it safe.
[D] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [D] _ First of all, I can't believe that I'm being inducted at all.
_ [E] I'm [Bm] honored. _
[Am] _ _ _ _ That's the best way I can say it.
I'm just [E] _ flabbergasted.
And to be _ included with Bruce Chanel, _ Delbert McClinton, _
and Gary Nicholson.
I mean, _ and of course, Cindy Walker.
Cindy Walker, who was my mother and dad's friend.
_ [Gb] It's [D] really, [Ab] really, really special for me.
_ [Gb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ [D] _ [Gb] _ _ _
[E] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [F] _ _ [A] _ _ [E] _
Dead trouble in [A] my eyes
I'm blue
_ _ _ _ [A] My [B] poor [Eb] heart is breaking
[D] _ Sometimes [Eb] _ _
[A] I feel like [Gb] living
_ [E] _ _ [A] Sometimes [E] I feel like dying
_ _ [Em] _